Advice on painting Wildcat nose cone

[ohbejuan]

One of my "white whale" builds is a F4F-3 Wildcat Early version. If for no other reason I distinctly remember having some of these as toys when I was little. I bought the Hobby Boss kit, and I ordered some decals from "Yellow Wing Decals". Looking at some reference photos I really like how these stripes and nose cones are done. The wing stripes are not too hard, but nose cones can be difficult for me. Especially these thin white lines next to the blue. One method I was considering was using a circle template for painting, but I have never tired if. Thanks in advance.

 

[BlackSheepTwoOneFour]

Simple to do since yellow is a hard color to perfect. Start figuring out the the total depth (yellow, blue, and white) and mask that area for white. Let dry 24 hrs.

Cut a long thin strip of paint masking tape (I use Frog Yellow Painter tape). Take one strip of tape and cover the white stripe. Take another thin strip and tape it next to the white stripe that’s covered. Now, next to that thin strip of tape, tape around that thin strip. Once you’ve done that, take a regular width of yellow painter tape and mask off next to the strip of tape covered for the blue. Take off the tape for the blue stripe and airbrush it that middle stripe blue. Let dry 24 hrs.

Now you’re ready for the final color - yellow.

As I’ve said, yellow is a hard color to airbrush. Easy way to achieve a nice coat of yellow is spray in several light coats. With the white already on, this helps yellow cover better on a model kit. Hope this helps.

 

[ohbejuan]

Simple to do since yellow is a hard color to perfect. Start figuring out the the total depth (yellow, blue, and white) and mask that area for white. Let dry 24 hrs.

Cut a long thin strip of paint masking tape (I use Frog Yellow Painter tape). Take one strip of tape and cover the white stripe. Take another thin strip and tape it next to the white stripe that’s covered. Now, next to that thin strip of tape, tape around that thin strip. Once you’ve done that, take a regular width of yellow painter tape and mask off next to the strip of tape covered for the blue. Take off the tape for the blue stripe and airbrush it that middle stripe blue. Let dry 24 hrs.

Now you’re ready for the final color - yellow.

As I’ve said, yellow is a hard color to airbrush. Easy way to achieve a nice coat of yellow is spray in several light coats. With the white already on, this helps yellow cover better on a model kit. Hope this helps.

It does! Thank you

 

[Eagle-1]

You gonna paint like the box or that gray real one? Either way, you gotta lotta yeller.

Mucho.

Rob.

 

[ohbejuan]

You gonna paint like the box or that gray real one? Either way, you gotta lotta yeller.

Mucho.

Rob.

I am going for the one in the photo. How realistic it will be I am not sure, but I like that color scheme a lot more than the one on the box.

 

[ohbejuan]

My plan is to prime the parts that will end up aluminum gloss black, and prime the tops of the wings, and the nose white.

 

[Eagle-1]

There's a fair amount of pictures of it at least. It looks like a model, but it's done nicely.



Rob.